Duke of York shooting: Kyle Weese says he didn't fire gun

Kyle Weese testified in his own defence Tuesday and maintained that he has been mistakenly identified as the man who shot and killed Bailey Zaveda and wounded four other people outside an east end Toronto tavern nearly two years ago.

“I didn’t do the shooting,” he stated several times at his first-degree murder trial.

Mr. Weese, 27, is on trial in Ontario Superior Court on charges of first-degree murder and four counts of aggravated assault. He is accused of firing more than a dozen shots from a 9mm Luger handgun outside the Duke of York Tavern in the early morning hours of Oct. 25, 2008, following a dispute with a group of customers known as the “Scotians.”

Ms. Zaveda was shot six times while smoking a cigarette outside the tavern, an innocent bystander who had moved recently to Toronto to start a new job.

Three eyewitnesses picked Mr. Weese out of photo lineups, with varying degrees of certainty, as the gunman that night.

While he admitted to getting into a dispute with one of the Scotians, because his girlfriend was touched “inappropriately,” Mr. Weese denied that he had a gun, or that he sprayed the entrance area of the tavern.

“Did you fire a gun,” asked defence lawyer Peter Zaduk.

“No, I did not,” replied Mr. Weese.

The defendant, who the jury heard has a lengthy criminal record, said he did not respond to the Scotians, who were calling him “f—ing white boy” and other insults. “I figured they wanted to fight. I was not in physical condition to fight and there were six or seven people,” said Mr. Weese.

After walking away from the tavern, Mr. Weese said he stopped briefly after hearing several shots. “There was a lot of yelling,” stated Mr. Weese. He told the jury that he flagged a taxi and left the scene of the shooting, because he was in possession of narcotics and did not want to be searched by police.

Mr. Weese then made a number of phone calls to friends and paid an acquaintance $100 to drive him to Lindsay, Ont. A friend of Mr. Weese and his brother were among the people wounded and Crown attorney Ann Morgan asked the defendant why he fled, if he had nothing to do with the shooting.

“I don’t feel comfortable with police. I don’t trust them,” said Mr. Weese, who admitted he was in “hiding,” but insisted it was not because he killed Ms. Zaveda.

Two days after the incident, Mr. Weese testified that he saw his picture on a television newscast, described as a suspect in the shooting. “I was scared, for seeing myself on the news for a shooting I didn’t do,” he said.

While continuing to sell drugs and smoke marijuana in Lindsay, Mr. Weese indicated he also made efforts to contact his lawyer, who was out of the country. Four days after the shooting, he surrendered to police. “I could have stayed in hiding, but I wanted to get this resolved,” said Mr. Weese.

Ms. Morgan cross-examined the defendant about his brother’s statement to police that he did not know who wounded him that night. “I am going to suggest that your brother was protecting you,” said the prosecutor.

“I disagree, my brother got an axe in the head once and he never told anyone who did it,” explained Mr. Weese.